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The Pentagon's shiny new ray gun

Yes, its official, all that money that the Pentagon has spent on ridiculous pipe dreams has finally paid off!
(Well, except for the fact that the Pentagon has spend an absurdly small percentage of its budget on non lethal weaponry (http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/031211-nonlethal-weaponry.htm)).
Apparently this ray gun is supposed to fire highly concentrated radio waves that penetrate just below the first layer of skin, to the nerve endings. The amount of pain caused is so severe that it is essentially impossible to stand in the way for five seconds.
My thoughts about it:
This seems like the most effective thing we could be using for crowd dispersal in Iraq right now. The battle against the insurgency is essentially based on the opinions of the Iraqi people. If they reject the insurgents, like Anbar province did to Al Qaeda in Iraq, the US has its job done for it. It seems clear that it would be much better if the US could accomplish basic crowd control without killing anyone. Of course, I do have qualms over the fact that it is extremely clumsy to use in the cramped urban areas where it would be most desired, particularly when a well placed grenade or any form of IED take out the Humvee. Having this thing in a smaller form would lead to natural abuse, as nobody could prove that a US soldier used the weapon on them. I also fear the day that this technology is somehow used by civilians?
What do you guys think? And how many of you first thought about what would happen if that sucker was used on an icecube?

This is hands down the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. The endless possibilities of the things I could do to people are rushing through my head. Get off my property!!! Get away from my car!!! Give me your wallet or God will smite you!!! Don't believe me?

This is hands down the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. The endless possibilities of the things I could do to people are rushing through my head. Get off my property!!! Get away from my car!!! Give me your wallet or God will smite you!!! Don't believe me?

You have given a great example of why this shouldn't be in civilian hands.
I'm just really scared that the US is going to flood the world with these like the Russians flooded the world with Kalashnakov's [/shiver]

Okay, this is supposed too be non-lethal but let me ask a question: Could this thing cause long-term damage to a person? What about if it's used multiple times against that person?

I hope that's not really stupid question.

No long term studies have been done on the effects that this has on targets.
In theory its harmless, because it just goes in far enough to fuck with your nerve endings. Of course, having your nerve endings subjected to an extremely high amount of stimulation multiple times might not be good.
As a guess, I say no unless you're a masochist who jerks off to shooting yourself with this thing and cause yourself chronic nerve damage.

I can already picture the Senate Oversight investigations on that thing.

"Is it torture?"
"No."
"If it was fired at you, would you consider it torture?"
<silence>
"If it was fired at me I would probably say so yes."

Yeah, this is definitely a great torture tool, small room with a raygun and you only are free if you tell, you have to say something after ten seconds that could very well be the truth (could just be a lie but that is the problem with all torture).
Of course, the sheer size of device means that it could probably only be used in CIA secret prisons, but that hasn't stopped anyone so far.

Okay, this is supposed too be non-lethal but let me ask a question: Could this thing cause long-term damage to a person? What about if it's used multiple times against that person?

I hope that's not really stupid question.

Probably but we don't know.

I mean hopefully you are only subjected to limited exposure.

MONROE: Everyone comfy? (chuckles). Good. Now, don't touch any of those buttons in front of you for a very important reason. i.e. you are wired into the rest of your family. You have the ability to shock them, and they have the ability to shock---
There is a buzz and Homer is suddenly shocked. He screams.BART: Just testing.HOMER: Why, you---MONROE: No, Homer, not yet.HOMER: Awww.MONROE: You see, this is what is known as aversion therapy. When someone hurts you emotionally, you will hurt them physically. And gradually you will learn not to hurt each other at all. And won't that be wonderful, Homer?HOMER: Oh, yes, Doctor.
He presses a button. Bart is zapped.BART: Whooa!
Bart presses the button. Lisa is zapped.LISA: Ahhh!MARGE: Bart, how could you shock your little sister?BART: My finger slipped.
Bart is suddenly zapped.LISA: So did mine.
Lisa zapped.LISA: Ahhh!
Bart zapped.MARGE: Bart, Lisa, stop that.
She presses two buttons simultaneously and both are zapped. The entire family continues zapping each other.MONROE: No, no. Now, wait a minute. Wait! Wait! Folks, folks, if I could --- This is not the way to get healthy! No! You don't understand, Simpsons!
They show no sign of stopping.
CUT TO:
Outside the office, the lights begin to dim and the music from the radio stops. The receptionist stares up.MONROE (O.S.): People, please!
CUT TO:

Outside the therapy center, where the bright banner turns off. Then, in a wide shot, Springfield follows.
CUT TO:
In Burn's office. Mr. Burns stares out upon Springfield.SMITHERS: Boy, someone's really gobbling up the juice, sir.BURNS: Excellent. Excellent. Perhaps this energy conservation fad is as dead as the dodo.
CUT TO:
Back in the chamber, where the Simpsons continue shocking each other and screeam in pain.MONROE: No! No! Simpsons!HOMER: Son of a ---!
The receptionist runs back in.RECEPTIONIST: Dr. Monroe, your other patients have fled the building.MONROE: Stop! Stop! You're damaging the equipment!
Monroe finally runs and pulls the plug. Everybody has smoke coming from their hair.BART: Hey, nice hair, Mom. MARGE: Gee, I thought we were making real progress.

Gosling on March 2008

I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.

I can already picture the Senate Oversight investigations on that thing.

"Is it torture?"
"No."
"If it was fired at you, would you consider it torture?"
<silence>
"If it was fired at me I would probably say so yes."

Yeah, this is definitely a great torture tool, small room with a raygun and you only are free if you tell, you have to say something after ten seconds that could very well be the truth (could just be a lie but that is the problem with all torture).
Of course, the sheer size of device means that it could probably only be used in CIA secret prisons, but that hasn't stopped anyone so far.

I love this thing. Non-lethal weaponry is the best kind of weaponry. The problem with it is that it doesn't generally get the kind of promotion it deserves because high-up generals can't imagine it decapitating brown people.

I'm fairly certain that we either live in a golden age of non-violence or that the teleological fantasies of people like Robert Wright are true and our culture really is progressing. I'm not worried about the occasional slip as long as the trend it up.

I love this thing. Non-lethal weaponry is the best kind of weaponry. The problem with it is that it doesn't generally get the kind of promotion it deserves because high-up generals can't imagine it decapitating brown people.

Well, that, and when you give them to quite a few people they assume they can use them without worry, even after training.

Yeah it's not like the US has a fucking abysmal history of mistreating protesters without this thing.
Second, the kind of panic it would induce isn't exactly lovable. Using it against crowds seems fucking retarded.

Also isn't this ancient news? i heard of this almost a year ago.

fjafjan on March 2008

Yepp, THE Fjafjan (who's THE fjafjan?)
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry

I'm not saying that it couldn't or wouldn't be misused. I'm sure it will be misused with great prejudice, but remember that current non-lethal AND lethal weapons are commonly misused, and frankly I'd rather have a few seconds of pain leaving no significant after-effects than be tear-gassed or shot with a rubber bullet.

Well, I'd rather have none of that happen to me, and I've arranged my life so that it's highly unlikely that I'd ever be on the recieving end of such treatment, but the point remains that, if this weapon does what they say it does, the benefits of having a crowd-dispersal device of this sort outweigh the cultural risk of having a weapon that causes pain but doesn't leave any marks. Surely training and oversight would go along with the use of the weapon; surely we'd trust it more in the hands of a military run by, say, a constitutional law scholar... but that's a different thread.

New technology demands further study and responsible governance; we can't just drop it because of potential abuses. Otherwise we wouldn't have nuclear reactors or stem cell advancements.

Actually nuclear reactors are expanding again, and most sites with a plant nearby are asking for more since it's good high paying jobs and way less shitty than living by a coal plant. By 2020-2025 we should have more nuclear reactors than we presently have nuclear engineers.

Or Terminators and Judgment Day. Well I guess Judgment Day is kinda old tech. But Terminators for sure.

Luckily John Connor will lead humanity to victory.

I was being more sarcastic than serious, but I wouldn't say we have "tons" of nuclear reactors...We have only 104 nuclear reactors in the states, which account for roughly 16-17% of our power needs, and we haven't built a new one since Three Mile Isle. Compare this to say, France, which gets 79% of it's power from nuclear reactors, and has been steadily investing in and building new plants over the last 30 years.

But ya, I know that in the general sense, the world hasn't given up on nuclear. Hell, we're in the process of building experimental fusion reactors in europe!

IloroKamou on March 2008

"There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts."

I was being more sarcastic than serious, but I wouldn't say we have "tons" of nuclear reactors...We have only 104 nuclear reactors in the states, which account for roughly 16-17% of our power needs, and we haven't built a new one since Three Mile Isle. Compare this to say, France, which gets 79% of it's power from nuclear reactors, and has been steadily investing in and building new plants over the last 30 years.

But ya, I know that in the general sense, the world hasn't given up on nuclear. Hell, we're in the process of building experimental fusion reactors in europe!

I think it'd be more appropriate to say that the American people have given up on nuclear.

Actually nuclear reactors are expanding again, and most sites with a plant nearby are asking for more since it's good high paying jobs and way less shitty than living by a coal plant. By 2020-2025 we should have more nuclear reactors than we presently have nuclear engineers.

Actually nuclear reactors are expanding again, and most sites with a plant nearby are asking for more since it's good high paying jobs and way less shitty than living by a coal plant. By 2020-2025 we should have more nuclear reactors than we presently have nuclear engineers.

Actually nuclear reactors are expanding again, and most sites with a plant nearby are asking for more since it's good high paying jobs and way less shitty than living by a coal plant. By 2020-2025 we should have more nuclear reactors than we presently have nuclear engineers.

More plants than Engineers? Wouldn't that be several thousand plants?

That seems like overkill...

Well, each plant needs more than 1 engineer, but maybe it was technicians then. Regardless we're slated to put up a dozen plants over the next decade. I know Texas is going to be one of the first with NRG and I'm pretty sure Com-Ed/Exelon are planning on replacing and adding at least one in Illinois. Which is great, because we only get 50% of our power from nukes at the moment.

The part of me that wants to see how bad waterboarding really is also wants to try this.

I feel the same way actually, but I'm kind of retarded.

I think it's a pretty good thing, because it's better to abuse intense pain than anything else. We're already killing a bunch of innocent civilians in Iraq, so it's at least a step up to briefly torture them with supposedly no long-term effects instead.

The part of me that wants to see how bad waterboarding really is also wants to try this.

I feel the same way actually, but I'm kind of retarded.

I think it's a pretty good thing, because it's better to abuse intense pain than anything else. We're already killing a bunch of innocent civilians in Iraq, so it's at least a step up to briefly torture them with supposedly no long-term effects instead.

^ This. There are obviously better ways to effect crowd control, but in Iraq crowd control under the situations one would want to use this currently means shooting people because you don't know who's wearing a suicide vest and using the crowd as cover.

With any luck this sort of thing can replace rubber bullets since those things most certainly are capable of killing and do so quite regularly when employed.

I'm fairly certain that we either live in a golden age of non-violence or that the teleological fantasies of people like Robert Wright are true and our culture really is progressing. I'm not worried about the occasional slip as long as the trend it up.

After we just came off the most brutal century in human history, I'm skeptical.